


To All the Girls I've Loved Before

by I_Have_No_Idea



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crygi endgame, Crystal is dumb dumb, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gay Panic, Gigi is book smart but everything else dumb, High School AU, Inspired by To All The Boys I've Loved Before, LESBIAN RIGHTS, Lesbian AU, Not Beta Read, Onesided Crystal Methyd/Jaida Essence Hall, Slow Burn, Underage Drinking, fake dating au, gigi goode/crystal methyd - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:07:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24143332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Have_No_Idea/pseuds/I_Have_No_Idea
Summary: Crystal wrote six letters. Six letters to represent each person she had loved before in her life. Six letters that were supposed to have remained secret until the end of time. So what happens when her letters are accidentally sent out and her life is turned upside down?A Crygi fake dating AU loosely based off of Jenny Han's "To All the Boys I've Loved Before".
Relationships: Gigi Goode/Crystal Methyd
Comments: 30
Kudos: 195





	1. Prologue- The Letters

**Author's Note:**

> Just FYI I have not read the book, I was just inspired by the concept. Please enjoy and let me know what you think.
> 
> TW- Implied Possible Sexual Exploitation in this chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just FYI I have not read the book, I was just inspired by the concept. Please enjoy and let me know what you think.
> 
> TW- Implied Possible Sexual Exploitation in this chapter

Crystal was a romantic. A Class A, long walks on the beach, honeymoon in Paris, favorite movie is _The_ Notebook type of romantic. This, of course, was an unsurprising trait for the young ball of emotions, she was constantly on the verge of some type of tears whether they were angry, exhausted, happy, or sad. Crying was how Crystal felt most alive, and so she did it. _A lot_.

Crystal meticulously documented said emotions, having a journal entry for almost every single day for the past six years. These entries reminded her of her humanity, all the good times she had had as well as all the bad. It was an easy way for her to cope with all the stresses and delights she encountered, processing each and every thought she had had during the day as she described it to her diary. It was the cheapest form of therapy.

Each journal she kept held each of her deepest and most private thoughts, except for those romantic desires. No, from a young age Crystal knew that a true romantic would keep a special place for those thoughts. Those secrets she documented in individual letters written to each love she had experienced in her life, an elite group of people that at one point or another consumed every waking thought she had had. 

Like her journal, the letters were meant to relieve Crystal of some of the emotions she felt, as well as document her life experiences. These letters were never intended to actually reach those they were dedicated to (despite each letter being housed in a corresponding envelope addressed to the recipient), because the letters were not really for them. 

They were for Crystal. And they always were meant just for Crystal.

On her most overwhelming days, she would beeline straight up to her room, drag her desk chair into the back corner of her closet and pull down the fancy seafoam colored hatbox she had repurposed as her treasure chest. She’d clutch her bundle of letters to her chest, breathing in the special apricot scented paper she had written them on before pulling each letter from its envelope and reading them one by one.

The letters allowed her to feel every emotion at once, helping her get through whatever was on her mind. She’d feel nostalgic for the days she had written them, remorseful that they were over, and yet gleeful that they had happened in the first place. 

Overall, the letters made her hopeful. Hopeful for easier days that weren’t complicated with her closeted emotions. Hopeful for a day when she would correctly write “definitely” on the first try. Hopeful that one day she would find love and that for once she could feel those intense emotions and have such a strong connection towards another person and have them be reciprocated and not fade over time.

She, of course, realized it was such a cliched allegory, keeping these letter that contained her deepest lesbian thoughts in a box shut away in her closet, but that’s what Crystal loved about it. She was in control of where they were and who could see them, and for someone who regularly cried in public, it was a nice sentiment that not every emotion she felt was out there in the world. She had power over these feelings (or at least a little bit of control).

There were six letters in total, five for each girl she had loved, and one semi-joke one for Harry Styles (addressed to her own house just so there was something written on the envelope front).They were all written on the parchment paper her mother had bought her when she was ten and going through a calligraphy phase. Each letter was housed in fancy teal envelopes with gold ink and a floral stamp.

When she had first thought of this idea to write to each of her former loves she realized that she could not just pass those that she had already moved on from. And so, the first letter was written when she was eleven, and was addressed to her little kindergarten girlfriend, Jan Sport. It had been six years, but Crystal could still remember the giddiness she felt as she and Jan held hands and skipped all around the playground during recess, ignoring the boys that would mock them because _boys were icky_. It was a simple love, one without the sapphic self-loathing she was accustomed to in all of her other crushes. The crush promptly ended when Jan moved away, and it would be years before Crystal acknowledged that maybe her love for Jan had been more deeply rooted than thinking she was really nice.

The second letter was addressed to her bunkmate from her first sleep away camp, Jackie Cox from New York. It was written immediately after the first letter, Crystal not wanting to forget a single sensation she had felt in her two weeks living with her. The two had spent every night up late, whispering about anything and everything. A week into their friendship was when Jackie confided in Crystal after an hour of intense hushed promises to never tell another living soul. “Crystal, I think I’m gay” Jackie had whispered, the two girls huddled underneath Crystal’s blankets with only a flashlight used to illuminate their faces. Crystal assured her friend that the revelation did not change her opinion of her, but the next couple of days Crystal spent feeling uncomfortably aware of Jackie at all times. She was aggressively cognizant of how often Jackie touched her, a high five on the volleyball court, a hug when Crystal started feeling homesick, holding her hand when Crystal became too scared during the campfire scary story session, Crystal slowly began to realize how often they were in contact and it never failed to make her squirm. Crystal spent those days worried that she was secretly homophobic, mad at herself for not being able to just accept Jackie. Crystal had a gay aunt whom she loved, why was this any different? It wasn’t until the last day of camp that Crystal realized that she wasn’t bigoted, she just had a crush on Jackie.

Number three was addressed to her brother’s ex-girlfriend, Dahlia, written when Crystal was twelve and Dahlia was still dating her brother. Crystal felt an immense amount of guilt for this particular crush, knowing it was wrong to covet her brother’s significant other, but she couldn’t help how pretty Dahlia was or how Dahlia never failed to stand up to Crystal’s bullies for her. This letter was by far her most dramatic, written at the height of her _Twilight_ phase. She wrote it after Dahlia spent an afternoon hanging with Crystal in her room, waiting for Stephen to return home from soccer practice. The older girl lounged on Crystal’s bed, idly flipping through one of Crystal’s old American Girl doll magazines as she inquired about Crystal’s love life, a forbidden subject for the young, closeted lesbian. “Are you sure there are absolutely no boys you’re interested in?” Dahlia whined, sending Crystal into panic mode as she tried to think of any boy that existed that she could just name to end this conversation. None came to mind. Eventually, Dahlia left for college, broke up with Stephen, and Crystal could finally close that chapter. 

Number four was for the most popular girl in her school, head cheerleader, president of the debate team, and overall goddess, Georgina Goode. Crystal had realized her feelings for Gigi after her first boy-girl party held at Troye’s house. The group of twelve fourteen-year-olds were all sat alone in his living room (Troye paid off his sixteen-year-old older brother, Dalton, the “adult” in charge, to stay up in his room for the party) the group completely separated by sex until Dalton eventually interrupted to suggest they all play Seven Minutes in Heaven. Crystal had felt incredibly uncomfortable, only there because she was friends with Jaida, and Jaida was friends with Gigi who was friends with everyone but agreed to play being more afraid of sticking out amongst her peers than whatever this game entailed. She figured if she was lucky the bottle would never land on her and she could somehow escape her turn. This plan evaporated when Gigi spun and landed on Crystal. Someone complained that Gigi should be able to spin again, but Dalton insisted the two go into the front hall closet, giving the girls a smile that unnerved Crystal. Inside the closet, Gigi wordlessly searched the wall for a light switch and groaned when she came up empty-handed. “This is ridiculous.” she furiously whispered. Both girls jumped at the sound of someone banging on the closet door. “I shouldn’t be hearing any talking in there!” Dalton yelled, evidently waiting right outside the door. “That’s not even the rules.” Gigi stated too quietly to actually be meant as a rebuttal to Dalton. Crystal simply stood absolutely silent in the dark, her brain only being able to process how close she was to Gigi and how good nice she smelled, like mint and something else, strawberry maybe? “Fuck it, they want a show, I want to get out, pucker up.” Gigi said and before Crystal could even process what was just said she felt Gigi grab her face and pull her in. Gigi tasted like Twizzlers and vanilla and Crystal almost tripped as she stepped forward closer to Gigi, her hands about to reach for her waist when the door opened and Gigi abruptly pulled away. “Happy now?” She glared at Dalton who gave her a smirk and a nod. Crystal felt on the verge of tears, realizing that her first kiss had been wasted on this, a game, with someone who held no feelings for her. Crystal left the party shortly after, discreetly texting her dad to pick her up the minute she escaped the kissing dungeon. On Monday morning Jaida filled her in on what she had missed after she left, informing Crystal that the game only went on for another round until Dalton landed on Gigi. Apparently they took twenty minutes. A rumor spread about Gigi giving him a handy in the closet earning her the nickname Gigi Goode Grip, a nasty moniker that was still used behind her back today, over three years later. 

The letter was written five months after their kiss, after agonizing weeks of Crystal constantly watching Gigi be her perfect little self, rising above the rest of their class in every way possible. Crystal desperately tried to deny her feelings for the tall blonde, not wanting to be so pathetic that she developed such an intense crush on the girl she had shared her first kiss with, a girl who did not care about her and had not acknowledged her a single time since it had happened. Crystal tried to channel her emotions into anger, wanting so desperately to hate Gigi for ruining what should have been such a romantic and pivotal moment for Crystal, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to find any fault in little miss perfect. This letter had become Crystal’s favorite over the years because it was so raw and forced her to feel every emotion she imagined existed. 

The next letter she had written was to Harry Styles. This particular one was unbearable to read the day One Direction had broken up, marking the one time her letters had not cheered her up. She had to admit, it still stung every once in a while to reread it and remember a time when she thought the band would last forever. 

And finally there was letter six, the most recent one. The one she had written so desperately to try and relieve herself of her emotions. She didn’t know when it had happened, when her casual conversations had begun to feel like flirting, when the hugs and other platonic touching began to make her long for more, it just all of the sudden happened and once she recognized the feelings it terrified Crystal beyond what words could describe. This was where she drew the line, where she told herself that she needed to absolutely ignore her feelings. Jaida could never find out how utterly in love with her she was. Crystal could not and would not dare risk her longest friendship like that. She knew she could not handle not having Jaida at her sides at all times. So she pour her heart out into that letter, and tried to lock them all in that hat box in the back of her closet. But its funny how that is not how emotions work at all and how the formal recognition of her feelings in that letter only made her more self-conscious.

Still, Crystal was sure she would get over this. Or rather, Crystal was sure that one day she would die and that awful secret would go with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to explain that I do not write Crygi fanfic because I think/care about them actually dating. I do it because I am a lesbian with little to no willpower. Anyways thanks for reading.


	2. Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter actually has plot points, exciting!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Drug use (weed) and jokes about murder.
> 
> This chapter is a bit rushed but I wanted to get this out, hope you enjoy!

The fuckery started on a Thursday.

Crystal had been consistently busy for weeks, barely having a moment to sit and catch her breath for a straight month. Every waking thought she had had been dedicated to the AP Drawing portfolio deadline that loomed over her head. Mix that with the fact that her house flooded causing for her family to pack up most of their possessions to either donate throw out or try to salvage with her best friend/crush getting a new boyfriend who she never shut up about and Crystal found herself on the verge of tears at all times. Yet, she hadn’t actually cried in weeks (unless you count when the Home Economics substitute put on Finding Nemo instead of even trying to figure out a sewing machine).

Crystal could sense the storm was coming, she knew it was brewing somewhere over the horizon. She just hoped she would make it to prom before that happened.

The sun was shining bright as Crystal clutched her bag to her chest, waiting for Widow to pick her up before school, praying that she would arrive on time or at least not after school had already started like she had recently made a habit of (although Crystal could not really blame the second semester Senior for not caring). As a Junior, Crystal could not risk receiving a tardy every day for an entire term. She had art schools to try and impress in the Fall.

Widow arrived with five minutes until the first bell rang, yelling for Crystal to hurry up so they wouldn’t be late. Crystal barely stepped into the car before Widow started driving off, rocketing Crystal further into the car.

“Oh mylanta, Widow, calm down.” Heidi said in the passenger seat, her knuckles turning white from clutching the oh shit handle so tightly, eliciting a chuckle from the driver.

“Y’all keep complaining that I make you late everyday, so don’t complain when I try to give you want you want!”

“What we mean by that is wake up like ten minutes earlier Widow, not Tokyo Drift through the town.” Crystal piped up, struggling to buckle herself as Widow whipped through a corner.

“Beggars can’t be choosers Ms. Methyd, now hold on.” Widow said, speeding up to make a yellow light before it turned.

“Did Jaida catch a ride with her new boyfriend?” Crystal asked, flinching at how obvious her jealousy was coming across.

“Yessir.”

Crystal sighed, thinking of Jaida and her latest obsession, a college baseball player named Matt or something equally basic. He was a handsome, tall guy that Jaida met after dming him on Instagram despite Crystal’s warnings that he was an older stranger from the internet. The two had been seeing each other for about a month now and it drove Crystal mad how the new relationship greatly depleted the time she could spend with Jaida, only seeing her during lunch due to the radically different schedules.

The three girls sprinted into the front entrance as the first bell rang with a triumphant cheer from Widow. Heidi didn’t pause to catch her breath, still making a dash for the far end of the school where the science wing was, yelling “Thanks for the ride again Widow!” over her shoulder as she disappeared down the corridor.

Crystal relished in the fact that she could take a leisure stroll to her Math class, giving a toothy grin to the teacher as she walked in with 30 seconds to spare before the late bell, a rare sight for both of them.

Crystal took her seat behind Nicky who was already excitedly updating her on some drama in the cheer squad she likely heard during rehearsal held prior to the beginning of school. How anyone could be so chirpy after an hour long practice held at 6 AM Crystal didn’t know, but she managed a sheepish smile at Nicky, encouraging the blonde to continue talking despite none of the words registering in Crystal’s head. She liked Nicky and was glad that their shared class had brought the radically different girls together, but it was way too early for Crystal to be understanding high school social politics.

The first half of school went by without much to comment on. Crystal got to skip out on half of gym by escorting Aiden to the nurse after Brita accidentally hit her in the face with a basketball causing the younger girl to get a brutal bloody nose (a story Brita would likely never live down after they had only recently gotten over their feud).

Crystal and her group of friends ate lunch outside, sitting at the picnic benches right next to the bleachers, giving them easy access to slip under the bleachers to quickly smoke a shared joint Daegen had brought. Crystal had found herself relaxing, not high but just more at ease from the two hits she had taken when Aiden spoke up, still holding an ice pack to her nose.

“Why is Georgina looking at us?” She asked the group.

Crystal turned her head to look for herself, and sure enough found Georgina Goode, sitting on the terf of the football field surrounded by the rest of the cheer squad who all seemed to be tanning in the glow of the mid afternoon Los Angelos sun. All except Georgina, who was looking straight at Crystal, eyes narrowed coldly in her direction. Crystal swallowed hard and quickly looked away from Gigi’s icy blue glare.

“Fuck, do you think she knows about our spot? Do you think she’ll report it?” Heidi nervously chattered, standing up, ready to walk over to Dagen who was still under the bleachers.

“I swear to God if fake little Miss ‘Goodey’ two shoes over there tries to give us shit for smoking during lunch I will personally email every Ivy League school to tell them about her weekend habits.” Widow said, glaring straight back in the cheerleader’s direction.

“Calm down guys, you know Gigi is chill, she won’t do anything.” Jaida reassured, the only one of their group to remain friends with her after she became the queen bee of their school. “She’s probably just spaced out or something.”

“I don’t know, I still don’t think we can trust her, she’s hiding something, you can just tell.”

“C’mon guys, it’s not like this is actually a secret, everyone knows about our spot, if she really cared we would’ve been in trouble like a year ago.” Crystal sighed, turning her back so she wasn’t tempted to lock eyes with Georgina again.

Crystal didn’t like thinking about the blonde. Every time she did she was only reminded of the fact that her only “romantic” experience was with a straight girl on basically a dare. Mix that with Crystal’s romantic side which insisted that that fateful moment in Troye’s closet had to mean something and it all became way too much of a closeted lesbian cliche for her to handle. So Crystal simply tried to ignore Gigi’s existence, an easy strategy to use given how different the two girls lived their lives.

The rest of the day Crystal felt like she was being examined under a microscopic lens, constantly feeling watched despite not catching anyone in the voyeuristic act. In home ec she came to the conclusion that she just needed to lay off the midday smoking sessions at least until her life settled down after she spent fifteen moments chugging water from the fountain, constantly looking over her shoulder.

“Stop tweaking Crys.” She whispered to herself as she walked back to the classroom.

Her last class of the day was art, and she poured all of her emotions into her sketchbook, spreading her reference photos of Heidi smiling brilliantly at the camera out as she drew her friend.

Her portfolio was focused on happiness and the forms it took, an idea that her teacher warned her was both confusing and basic but meant too much for Crystal not to do.

Crystal was entirely lost in her work when the end of the day bell rang. She quickly sent a text to Widow telling her that she was staying late and wouldn’t be needing a ride home, planning to just walk back home whenever she was done.

The art room quickly emptied, even the teacher had left, locking the door so Crystal could easily close up when she was done. It was her routine—especially as of late— to stay in the school alone in the Music/Art wing until dinner time. These were the moments Crystal looked forward to most of the day, just being alone with her thoughts and all the art supplies she could want. When it was nice out she would open the windows she could hear the marching band practice in the empty side parking lot while cheer and football practiced on the field, the sounds of each group blending together into one cacophonous sound. It was chaotic. Crystal loved it.

Crystal began to clean up around 5:30PM, knowing her mother would scold her if she was late again. She was supposed to help her family pack up the last of the stuff ruined in the flood, having missed the past four nights of cleaning so she could continue her art work, including the day her mother went through her room. Crystal’s stuff was relatively unaffected from the water so she didn’t feel the need to double check what her mother threw out from her room. Her mother was pissed regardless, insisting that Crystal needed to pitch in to help.

Crystal slung her bag over her shoulder as she heard keys rustling to unlock the door from the outside. Expecting it to just be the janitor coming in to clean up for the night she began to apologize, promising she was on her way out and would be out of their hair which was why she was rather shocked when she turned around and almost collided into Gigi Goode in the doorway.

“Oh, uh, hey, I was just leaving.” She blinked, looking at the blonde standing in front of her. “Did you forget something in here? Mr. Rice kind of left me in charge of making sure the room was all closed up for the night, but I really need to get going, so if you need the room you need to remember to shut everything down and lock the door.” She babbled, stopping as she noticed the stone-cold look Gigi gave her.

Gigi simply stood there with her arms folded across her chest, keeping silent as she looked Crystal up and down. Her fists were clenched, and her left hand seemed to be crushing some item Crystal could not recognize.

She supposed she could still somehow be high and paranoid, but she couldn’t help but think that she was about to be murdered, wasn’t she? This has to be the start to some Crime Watch episode or something, being cornered in the deserted art room by the most angelic looking killer. Crystal wondered what corny name her death would be given. She had the hopeless feeling that the storyline would instead focus on how the Straight-A Barbie snapped instead of herself. Rather fitting that her death would focus on her murderer and not her.

“I’d better be going, my mom’s waiting in the car… outside… right now.” Crystal lied with a nervous chuckle, hoping Gigi would decide that Crystal’s life wasn’t worth going to jail. 

“We need to talk.” Gigi said abruptly, holding a hand up to stop the nervous auburn haired girl before motioning for Crystal to sit at one of the work benches.

Crystal didn’t really know why she obliged, sitting down on one of the stools, ignoring her mind screaming at her to push Gigi over and make a run for it.

“What’s up?” She asked shakily, flinching as Gigi moved to extend her left hand, pushing whatever she was holding onto the table that stood between them. Time slowed down in that moment as she braced for impact, expecting to be shanked right then and there. Holy shit she definitely was still high, how was she still this high? What was going on?

“Mind explaining what the fuck this is?” Gigi said, sliding an envelope across the table.

It took a moment for Crystal to process what was happening, her mind catching up with the rather anticlimactic motion. She felt a wave of relief wash over her as she realized she was not being murdered in that moment, only for her to finally recognize the teal envelope laid in front of her. This envelope had distinctive hand writing, swooping cursive written in gold ink, with tacky doodled hearts that replaced the dots over each ‘i’ written on it. This was an envelope that should still be in the back of her closet, locked away from the world. An envelope that most certainly should not be in the hands of Miss Georgina Goode of all places.

Crystal managed a dry laugh before her vision went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify she faints at the end, I want to make it clear because I am 1) Roxxxy Andrews and that's why I'm here, and 2) I included those paragraphs of Crystal worrying she was being murdered so yeah just to really hit it home, she does not get shanked in the end lmao.


	3. Huh?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Forced to come out
> 
> This chapter is a mess but Im gay and tired so there's no fixing it

Crystal came to on the tiled, paint-splattered floor of the art class room with Gigi Goode leaning over her with an indiscernible expression on her face.

“And people call me dramatic…” The blonde mumbled, reaching a hand beneath Crystal’s head, “Are you alright? Can you see straight? How’s your head?”

Crystal tried to make a sound, literally any, but found her vocal chords shriveled up, unable to commit even half a squeak. Instead she just lay there, breathing in Gigi’s fancy perfume as she tried to piece together what the hell was going on. He remembered working on her portrait of Heidi, school ending and trying to leave the room but being stopped by Georgina. But why? That’s when her eyes finally came across the teal envelope hanging over the edge of the workbench. The envelope— _shit_.

Crystal rushed to get up only to crash her head straight into Gigi’s.

“ _Ffffuck Crystal_ ,” Gigi hissed, pressing a hand to the impact zone on her forehead, “There’s no reason to give us both concussions, calm down.”

“I-I need to get home, my mother is waiting.” Crystal scrambled to pick herself up off the floor, grabbing her backpack and then pausing before reaching for the envelope stopping as she felt a tight grip wrap around her wrist.

“We need to talk,” Gigi repeated, her pale hand still holding onto Crystal’s arm, snatching up the envelope from the table.

“Where did you get that? Why do you have that? You shouldn’t have that, it’s mine.” Crystal said, reaching for the letter, cursing as Gigi held her other long arm above her head, keeping the envelope out of reach.

Gigi pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow, still waving the paper in over her head.

“It has my name on it and you kind of sent it to me, so I think it’s kind of mine. Now take a seat.” Gigi commanded.

This was a nightmare. No way this was real. The box is/should be securely in the back of her closet, Crystal is/should still be the only person who knows that it and its contents exist. She was doing that thing again. The one where she was so anxious throughout the day that whatever she was thinking about became the subject matter of her dreams. This was just a bad dream produced by a bad trip or something. She just needed to chill out and wake up, maybe smoke a bit when she does to ease her stress.

“Well?” Gigi’s question broke Crystal out of her trance.

“Huh? Were you talking just then?” Crystal voice vibrated back to her like she was in a cavernous tunnel. She could feel her heartbeat in her throat and her mouth felt like cotton. Never mind, the solution was to definitely lay off the weed.

Gigi scoffed, and rolled her eyes.

“You’re absolute shit at this you know? You’re acting like I’m the one blackmailing you.”

_Huh?_

“Huh?”

_Blackmail?_

Crystal’s mind simply halted, short-wiring from the sensory overload she was experiencing. _What the fuck is going on in here on this day?_ Was Gigi Goode that devoid of human emotions that she mistook a tacky teen love letter as a written threat of some kind? Crystal always thought that Gigi looked inhuman, some robot created to be the most scientifically beautiful thing to ever exist, but she never expected her to literally be that out of touch with humanity.

“So? When did you figure it out? I’m assuming it was that stupid fucking party that tipped you off, right? Have you known since then? Why now?” Gigi asked sternly.

Crystal watched with her mouth agape at the blonde in front of her.

“I’m sorry, clearly I’m missing something,” Crystal laughed weakly, “What?”

What fucking party? Maybe Gigi was the one who needed to smoke less weed.

Gigi waved the envelope exasperatedly.

“What do you even want from me Crystal? What is the purpose of mailing this to me? Did you even think any of this through or did you just think it’d be fun to fuck around with me and plan as you go?”

“Georgina I wrote that when I was like fourteen.” Crystal mumbled.

“Fourteen?!” The blonde exclaimed, “I can’t believe you are this shit at this and still somehow have the upper hand. Why wait over three years to send it? Honestly Crystal if you weren’t such a dick I would try and help you because this is honestly pathetic.”

Crystal blinked slowly, rubbing her temples to try and physically force her mind to catch up to whatever the fuck was unfolding before her. Wasn’t Gigi supposed to be mocking her for her little middle school crush or parading the embarrassing letter around the schoolyard exposing Crystal as an illiterate lesbian (neither parts of which should honestly surprise anyone)? What the fuck was going on?

Gigi sighed.

“Well, anyways, none of that matters because jokes on you Crystal. I refuse to let you fully ruin a special moment like this for me. It may have been long before I ever thought I would do this, but you obviously left me no choice. I already came out to my parents last night, I’m letting the team know tomorrow night and then the whole town will probably know by Monday. If you’re gonna force me out of the closet I will at least own it before you can even try to humiliate me.”

“Huh?”

_HUH?_

Crystal was at a loss for words, her brain sending itself into overdrive as she tried to list what she had already known for sure. One, Gigi, somehow, had her letter. Two, Gigi did not appreciate the letter in the slightest and in fact was quite irate with her. ~~Three, Gigi has a really adorable angry pout.~~ But now Miss Gigi Goode was coming out to her on the assumption that Crystal— the walking personification of the pride flag— was a bigot who already knew she was gay and was utilizing this information to blackmail the blonde. 

_Huh._

Gigi shrugged with a smug smile.

“You lose, and I will make sure everyone knows you’re the homophobic asshole that tried to out me before I was ready.” She said in a sardonically sweet voice, eagerly waiting for some sign of disappointment from Crystal.

“Georgina,” Crystal said slowly, still piecing together all the key points the blonde had just laid out to her, “That letter was never meant for you, it was for me.”

She watched Gigi raise an eyebrow and open her mouth before she quickly continued, wanting to say her piece before the blonde took control of the conversation (interrogation?) again.

“I write letters to each one of my crushes so I can remember how it feels to uh… have a crush and I keep them in my room… for myself… for only myself. No one was ever supposed to see any of them, especially not you of all people.” 

Gigi’s face fell slowly. Finally, it was her turn to feel lost.

“Huh?"

“I don’t know how you got blackmail out of that letter, but that was just a confession from me— from _fourteen_ year old me— that I had a crush on you after that party at Troye’s. Or I guess it kind of started before then and then became like full-blown and unbearable after that game and I just kind of-“

“So you weren’t taunting me for being… you know?”

“No, Jesus, no, why on Earth would I do that? That letter in of itself should be enough to let you know why I of all people would never do that to another person.”

Gigi sat quietly for a moment.

“Holy shit.” She mumbled to herself. “ _Holy shit._ ” She repeated with a shaky breath, “You didn’t blackmail me?”

Crystal shook her head silently.

“Oh my god,” Gigi said before letting out a wild giggle, slapping a hand over her mouth to try and conceal it.

Crystal sat, awkwardly watching Gigi as she laughed uncontrollably. 

She’d never been so uncomfortable in her life, watching as Gigi shook with tears in her eyes attempting to stifle the mixture of sobs and chuckles that escaped her lips.

“I’m sorry,” Gigi said after a moment, still trying to collect herself, hiccuping as a tear slid down her face, “I laugh whenever I’m unnerved, I’m not laughing at you.” She promised, biting down at her bottom lip as it began to tremble. She finally seemed to silence herself, taking a deep breath before quivering and beginning to fully cry.

Gigi Goode may not be a robot but she sure seemed to not be able to express emotions well or like any other sane human being.

Crystal quietly stood up, giving the blonde some space. 

Crying didn’t typically make her uneased. She was a really emotionally perceptive person and could usually discern what someone needed in such states. Her mother was a clingy crier just like Crystal, she likes to be hugged and talked to. Aiden was a silent and lonely crier, wanting distance and time to get over things. Daegen and Widow would prefer you didn’t acknowledge they were crying at all and tried their best (usually succeeding) in not crying even when it was all they wanted to do.

Gigi was unreadable. 

Crystal made a lap around the art room, trying her best to just ignore the girl in the middle. Circling back around only when she came across an unopened box of tissues that she placed right in front of Gigi.

“Thank you.” She sniffled, picking up the box.

Crystal went back to pretending to not watch her.

After an eternity Gigi exhaled heavily, tapping away the last of the tears on her face and straightening up her blouse before she began to talk.

“Sorry about that, I guess I just got overwhelmed, but uh it’s fine now.” She said with a tense smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m sorry that I jumped to conclusions and accused you about… that. I’ve been paranoid for years that people were gonna figure me out and I’d lose everything so when I thought my secret was being threatened I just kind of… yeah.”

“Gigi are you alright?”

She held up a shaky hand. “I’m fine. My parents took it well. Nothing to complain about.”

“Gigi, I’m sorry if my letter made it seem like you couldn’t do it on your own time. You deserved to come out on your terms.”

“I said it’s fine, Crystal.” She snapped before standing up and collecting her things, sweeping up the teal envelope from the table. She paused to check her reflection in her phone’s camera before turning back to Crystal. “Sorry for holding you up like that, see you tomorrow.”

And with a curt nod Gigi walked out of the room leaving Crystal alone once again in the art room.

_What in the fuck was that?_

Crystal snapped out of her confusion funk when she got a glimpse of the clock reading 7:55PM, rushing to collect her things and sprint home, knowing her mother was going to kill her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bsakdfasbhf this chapter is barely coherent but honestly its a miracle I'm even literate because head empty, it only has room for lesbian panic. Hope you enjoyed or at least could understand this.


	4. A Study On Clownery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am a simp for fake dating storylines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, me again, please consider donating, signing petitions, etc. for the Black Lives Matter movement. Signing one petition takes like a literal second so if you have time to read this you have the time to make a small change in the world by using your voice! Here are some links on how/where you can help.
> 
> https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/  
> https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7wnbb/tony-mcdade-nina-pop-how-to-help  
> https://twitter.com/halsey/status/1266146115654574080
> 
> I swear I didn't abandon my fics, I just was swamped with schoolwork, so I'm sorry this took so long! Hope you enjoy this chapter! Please leave feedback if you have any, it means the world to hear from you guys! <3

Crystal was fucked. Royally fucked. Totally fucked. So fucked, she should be worried about missing her next period because holy fuck, was she fucked.

It was Monday and she still had no idea what she was going to do about her feelings being sent around the country to the people she had tried her best to keep them from. She had already received a lovely Facebook message from Jackie wanting to catch up which she had left unanswered as she awaited the bigger shitstorm to come.

The weekend had been a blur of packed up boxes, of missed calls, and unanswered texts from Jaida requesting they talk. Every night she had laid in her bed, restlessly staring at the ceiling as her phone buzzed on her bedside table, unable to emotionally process that her life as she had known it was in all likelihood over.

The first couple of messages she had received were standard enough, the group chat buzzing with information about what parties there were to look forward to in the next couple of days. Crystal faked being sick to avoid school on Friday and it was then that she received a slew of messages from her friends all shocked to have learned that _the Gigi Goode was gay???_ Her friends excitedly spreading around the newest gossip that Crystal had already been unfortunately privy to.

It wasn’t until after the school day had ended on Friday when she finally received the news she had been dreading to hear.

Jaida: I read your letter.

She had been expecting it since she had gone into her closet on Thursday night and confirmed that the box and its contents were nowhere to be found, and yet her heart still dropped at the confirmation.

Jaida: Crys, can we please talk?

Jaida: Crys answer my calls.

Jaida: Please…

On Saturday night she put her phone on airplane mode to try and stop the incessant buzzing as each vibration sent her straight into a panic. She was sure she’d have PTSD from her notification wall by the time the week was over after a poorly timed notification from Candy Crush forced her into hysterics.

She tried to skip school on Monday, pulling on the tricks in the book. Blue eyeshadow under the eyes to accentuate her bags. Wearing foundation and no other face makeup to make her look pale and dull. She even overheated her laptop by playing the Sims and then held the computer to her face to try and make her forehead seem unreasonable hot. Her mother saw right through it all.

“What? Do you have a test or something today? Is that why you’re so nervous? I’m sorry sweetheart, but you made that bed by not studying, now you have to lay in it. Now get ready, you’re already late, I’ll drive you.” Her mother had sighed, rushing to get dressed so she could drive miserable Crystal to school.

Crystal found little solace in the fact that she wouldn’t have to face her friends just yet.

First period was already well underway when she arrived, shoving her late pass at her math teacher before taking her seat behind Nicky who began her daily updates on all the school drama. Crystal nervously waited to hear Nicky dish out how everyone and their mother already knew about her pathetic crush on Jaida and how they all hated her now, but the latest gossip Nicky included was about Gigi.

“I’m so proud of her. You can just tell she’s more confident being out.” The French girl smiled and it would have been a really sweet moment if Crystal wasn’t distracted by her nervous inner monologue which was set to extreme panic mode.

Crystal still had no clue what to do regarding _that_ , the whole her best friend definitely now knows that she has been hopelessly in love with her for the past couple of years thingy so she decided that she would ignore it as long as she could, 

_Do the mature thing. Just talk with her. Explain it, and then promise you’ll get over it, it’s all gonna work out._ She promised herself, gulping as she saw her group of friends lounging near their lockers, waiting for her before they all walked out to the bleachers together for lunch.

_And if it doesn’t work out you can fake your death and live the rest of your years in the Alaskan wilderness._

The rest of the first half of her day went by far too quickly, Crystal unable to pay attention in any of her classes as she tried to imagine what Jaida would have to say to her. It appeared that she had not mentioned Crystal’s letters to any of her friends, none of them bringing up to her as they made small talk during their classes.

When lunchtime finally came around Crystal felt like she had just been given her death sentence. Lunch was typically the only time she would see Jaida during the typical school day. It was the moment she had been fearing for days now.

Crystal walked slowly to her locker, pretending to be organizing it so she could stall meeting her friends. She felt tears prick at her eyes as she tried to prepare herself for whatever was about to come. She turned around and closed the locker as she heard Widow’s booming laugh from down the hall.

She took the steps forward, walking towards the group, giving them a tragically fake smile as she started to approach them. She couldn’t help but feel a massive amount of relief when she noticed Jaida was nowhere to be seen, realizing that maybe she could have a peaceful lunch, giving herself more time to think through what she would say to Jaida to try and salvage their friendship.

She felt herself genuinely smile for the first time in days when she heard her.

“Sorry I’m late guys, Mr. Hall kept me late from choir practice to talk and I just-“ Crystal’s ears began to ring causing her to not be able to hear the rest of the sentence. She didn’t realize how gutting it would be to see Jaida, she had tried to prepare herself for this very moment for four days and yet here she was, entirely unprepared to be seeing Jaida several yards away from her looking gorgeous as always.

Crystal felt frozen in place as Jaida’s eyes fell onto her, and the girl seemed to flinch at the sight. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, all of Crystal’s surroundings just halting as the only thing going through her head was the immediate change in Jaida’s demeanor.

_She hates you now_. A voice in the back of her head announced to her. _You blew the best friendship you’ve ever had._

She felt shame spread like a hot rash across her body, starting at her spine and quickly coating her entirely in that disgustingly itchy feeling. She already felt drenched in sweat from her nerves, and she could tell she was shaking, her knees slightly knocking into one another Nothing felt real. 

She wanted to cry.

Crystal tried to straighten herself out, reminding herself that there was really nothing else to do other than talk this through with Jaida. They still had a full year of high school left together after all, what else could Crystal do? Avoid her and the rest of their friends for the 15 months she had before she would leave for college?

She was definitely about to cry.

She wished that something would happen. That either Jaida would just call her out right there and then in the hallway or that a sudden gust of courage would overcome her and she could face the problem right on. She just wished something, _anything_ would give way so that she wasn’t just standing there across from Jaida in an emotional Mexican standoff.

But Jaida would never just call her out like that and Crystal could never even hope to be that brave with her emotions. No, instead she always chose to just jot them down rather than fully confront them, the very reason why she was in this clusterfuck in the first place.

“Crystal you good? Are you coming to lunch with us?” She heard Daegen call over to her, her voice sounding muffled like she was trying to reach Crystal through a tunnel rather than an open hallway. The entire group of her closest friends were now all staring at her confusedly, except for Jaida who had her arms crossed in front of her chest and her lips pursed.

Finally having been snapped out of her mental crisis, Crystal took one large step forward before abruptly pivoting around, practically sprinting away from her friends.

Her mind was screaming at her to go back, knowing her friends would think her behavior was suspicious and that she was only making herself look even more like a coward to Jaida who probably already despised her. She needed to just take control of the situation before Jaida made their entire friend group turn on her.

She could hear someone calling after her when she suddenly collided into something, not paying attention to where she was going as she power-walked down the corridor.

“Jesus, Crystal.” She watched as a perfectly manicured hand reached out to steady her.

Of course, she had to have run straight into Georgina fucking Goode of all people.

Crystal wanted to disappear into the linoleum tiles and just live the rest of her days there, allowing random teenagers and middle-aged teachers to just walk over her. Floorboards didn’t have to address the elephants in the room like either of her accidental confessions of love. They just had to be a floorboard. What an idyllic life that is.

“Is it your goal to give us both irreversible brain damage?” Gigi questioned, her friends laughing behind her.

Crystal was sure she looked like a madwoman.

She heard heels clicking behind her, and her mind went entirely blank as Jaida called after her.

“Crystal we need to talk-”

And before her mind could approve of it, her body kicked into full-on panic and did the only thing it could think to do, create a distraction. Which was why she felt herself suddenly cupped either side of Georgina Goode’s face and brought it into hers, pulling her into an aggressive kiss.

It was like she was having an out of body experience. She could almost see the moment from a third-person perspective. Two teenagers locking lips in a semi-crowded hallway. She could hear Gigi’s friends gasp and Jaida halt behind her.

She finally pulled apart from Gigi after several moments. Both girls stood in complete shock, staring at each other silently. Crystal was rather surprised to see that Gigi looked more confused than angry.

She snapped out of her stupor when she heard Nicky squeal.

“Gigi, you little liar, I knew there had to have been a special someone!” She said, slapping the blonde playfully on the shoulder. “How dare you both keep this from me!”

“I didn’t-“ Gigi started to speak before catching Crystal’s terrified gaze.

_Say something you idiot or else you’re gonna make this situation worse._

“Haha, yeah, uh babe? Can we speak for a moment?” Crystal laughed awkwardly, inclining her head to the side as she looked at Gigi, indicating that they should go speak privately.

_How is that any better?_

Gigi nodded and Crystal took her hand, pulling her away. She caught a glimpse at Jaida’s bewildered expression before she and Gigi turned the corner, leaving all of their friends behind as they escaped to the only place Crystal was sure they would have privacy at this moment, the art wing.

“Hey, um, what the fuck?” Gigi asked when they finally made it to the art room. She shook her hand out of Crystal’s grasp and stepped away.

“Shhhh, in here,” Crystal commanded, opening the door to the art supply room. She was pleasantly surprised when Gigi silently complied.

Gigi waited until Crystal closed the door behind them.

“Explain. Now.” She commanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You weren’t the only one who got a letter.” Crystal huffed, her eyes already welling with tears as the stress was finally catching up to her. She felt like she had run a marathon, or more like she had laid on the pavement and let people run a marathon on her. She had never felt more vulnerable in her life.

“Okay,” Gigi said slowly, “And that made you kiss me because?”

“Because Jaida’s was the most recent letter.”

“Ah.” The blonde nodded, “Secret sapphic crush on a close friend, been there.”

“It’s more than just a crush.” Crystal blurted out, immediately cursing herself for her unnecessary honesty, “Or, at least her letter really doesn’t come off as just a crush.” She tried to save her last bit of dignity only to be met with a sassy raised eyebrow from Ms. Goode. 

“I wrote it a while ago, but it still pretty much holds up.” She admitted.

“So, what are you gonna do?”

“Runaway, become a carny, I guess, I love clowns so it seems like a reasonable enough option.” Crystal attempted to joke, her uncomfortable laughter faltering as she noticed how unamused Gigi looked. “I dunno, I guess tell her the truth? Try and pray she doesn’t hate me too much and then just try to survive the rest of high school?”

Gigi simply stared at her for a moment, her head tilted as she looked lost in thought. She finally took in a sharp breath, biting her lip for a moment before saying:

“What if… what if you don’t tell her?”

“H-what?”

“Yeah, what if we just let people think we’re together. Just for a little while, not just Jaida, everyone, the school our parents, everyone.” Gigi said in an oddly diplomatic fashion, like she was proposing a solution to ban fracking to the Senate instead of suggesting a fake romance. She straightened out her blouse as she watched Crystal process her words incredibly slowly.

“Wha-why would you want that?” Crystal asked, scratching her head.

“Well, for starters my parents are trying to set me up with the only two other girls that are out that are our age they know and both of them are just… just absolutely not, I’d rather just pretend to be heterosexual for another two decades. Besides, I don’t have time to actually date right now, I need to focus on school.”

“So you want to use me so your supportive parents will stop setting you up on dates?” Crystal asked skeptically. How anyone could see Gigi’s predicament an actual problem bewildered her.

“Hey, you used me first, remember?” Gigi sighed, raking her hands through her expertly straightened locks, “How do you suggest we explain that kiss then, hm? You want me to tell all my friends that you made out with me to avoid telling your best friend you have feelings for her?”

“No!” Crystal quickly objected, before coyly backing down.

She paused for a moment, thinking through what Gigi had just suggested.

She opened her mouth to answer when she was interrupted by the bell indicating the end of the lunch period.

“Shit.” Gigi mumbled, checking her phone to confirm the time, “Look, I have to go, I have to go to Bio on the other end of the school, just think about it, okay? No pressure, or anything, it’s just on the table, yeah?” She said, before leaving Crystal alone in the closet.

_Well, what the hell am I supposed to do now?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be trying to update more now that classes are over (I'm about to begin finals week though so I might still be infrequent this week).
> 
> I hope these stories allow for a nice little break for you from all that is going on in the world right now. I know writing them helps me. Stay safe.


	5. Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal panics for a day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi once again, here is a list of places to educate and donate to help support the black LGBTQ+ community! Also, just a gentle reminder if you are from Kentucky or New York and are of legal age to vote that there is an election on June 23 and Delaware, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and Louisiana all have elections in July so make sure to use your voice (If I did not list your state please check to see if you have any elections coming up as well, I just listed the ones I knew for sure.) Even if you can not vote there are a multitude of ways to let your voice be heard such as checking out the resources I listed below and contacting your local representatives.
> 
> https://www.snap4freedom.org/home
> 
> https://www.lgbtqfund.org/
> 
> https://kweenculture.com/
> 
> (All of the above resources are black queer led organizations!)
> 
> Hi buds, I hope you're all doing well! I finally finished my semester and am so excited to have that load off of my back and get back to writing! Hope you enjoy, sorry this took so long!

“Spill. Now.” Widow commanded, pulling up a seat next to Crystal. Her mind short-circuited as she tried to process her friend’s demands, her mind searching for what Widow could possibly be asking about now and why she was being so aggressive about it. Crystal had just settled in her first afternoon class, her mind still swimming from Gigi’s proposal and now she was being quizzed for what?

_Oh. Right. That._

It was too much for her to comprehend, and Crystal was almost sure that Widow was not supposed to be in this class which only made her mind feel hazier and her heart fill with dread. Widow clearly meant business and she was going to get whatever information she wanted from Crystal no matter what. Information Crystal was not entirely sure really existed.

“Spill what?” The redhead groaned, lifting her head from the top of her desk, trying her best to avoid Widow’s laser-like stare. She knew she had to stall, needing more time to think through what she wanted.

She had thought Gigi was insane for suggesting such a cliched and ridiculous thing, but now being confronted with her friend's questions it seemed entirely rational. Or at least easier than even trying to explain the reality of the situation. She just needed to either make a decision quickly or just try to completely evade Widow’s biting questions. A tough situation for someone like Crystal who had the conversational agility of a sloth and could not lie to save her life.

“Little bitch,” Widow mumbled, “You know exactly what I’m talking about, since when have you been bunking up with Gigi Goode?” She interrogated, picking up Crystal’s phone to silence it as it buzzed on the table. Crystal gulped knowing that Widow was going to make this as hard as she could for her. Widow was not a huge fan of Crystal keeping secrets from her, especially one as juicy as possibly dating the Georgina Goode, Queen Bee of the town.

“We’ve never bunked together.” Crystal said coyly as she tried to avoid the direct topic, hoping she could just tire Widow out by being vague and uninteresting for the rest of the period.

“You know what I mean. Since when have you two been dating and why didn’t you tell me?” Widow tapped on the top of Crystal’s desk.

“We’re not dating.” Crystal said awkwardly, coughing into her elbow to try and cover up the odd quiver her mouth always did when she was nervous.

“What are you two doing then if you’re not fucking or dating? Cause your little lunchtime stint seemed like a bit more than your average hallway greeting. I didn’t even know you two were friends.”

“We’re not really friends either.”

Widow threw her hands up in exasperation.

“What were you doing then? Asserting your dominance? You can’t just tell me that was nothing Crystal.”

Crystal sighed, running a hand through her unkempt curls as she tried to just decide on one story and stick to it.

“Georgina and I are both gay.” She said slowly, dipping her toe in with something already established as true. If she could manage with just vague truths maybe Widow would just draw her own conclusions and leave her alone to actually figure out her shit.

“No shit Sherlock, but that means nothing, there’s no law requiring every lesbian to date one another. So what changed?”

The two were now talking hushedly as the substitute teacher attempted to do rollcall. Crystal raised her hand when her name was read out, which only reminded her that Widow was definitely not supposed to be in class with her.

“What class are you skipping out on?”

“Chem. Stop avoiding my questions, what’s the deal with Goode?”

Crystal sighed.

“She came out to me on Thursday.”

“You two have been dating since Thursday and you didn’t feel like filling me in? After I texted you all day Friday,” she gasped “Crystal Elizabeth Methyd I can not believe you lied to me.”

“We’re not dating and I never lied.” Crystal squirmed in her seat as her voice raised five octaves.

“You texted me back pretending to be shocked when I told you Gigi came out, that’s lying.”

“I never said that I didn’t know she was gay, I just said it was a shock.”

“A lie by omission is still a lie my dear. Now you really owe me the truth, when did y’all start making on each other?”

Crystal’s ears felt hot and she could sense an intense blush spreading across her cheeks as she tried to keep up in the conversation. Widow was really not letting up.

“I… I mean technically our first kiss was in the eighth grade.”

“I don’t care about no technicalities Crystal, I care about what happened today that I saw with my own two eyes.” Widow said, narrowing her eyes further as she interrogated the girl. “So let me ask one last time, since when have you had a thing with Gigi?”

Crystal chewed nervously at her bottom lip, trying to formulate a response that would cause her the least amount of grief. She knew whatever she would say about the situation would spread like wildfire throughout their friend group, and more importantly Jaida.

_Jaida… Shit._

Crystal’s anxiety skyrocketed as she remembered what got her into this mess in the first place. She wondered how this must all look to Jaida. Her best friend out of the blue admitting that she had been harboring feelings for her for a while now via a letter, then ghosting her and now showing up and making out with someone else right in front of her, while completely ignoring her. She must be thinking Crystal is insane or on drugs or both.

“Since Thursday, you were right, I lied it was Thursday.” Crystal blurted out before smacking a hand over her mouth. The semi-lie had come out flawlessly from her, she’d be proud of herself if lying didn’t make her feel so queasy. She tried to keep calm by reminding herself that technically she and Gigi did have a thing that started on Thursday, it just wasn’t really anything close to what Widow was insinuating.

“Now was that really that hard Crystal?” Widow said with a chuckle.

“We’re still figuring out what we are to each other and what we want so please keep it on the down-low.” She begged, choking out another partial truth.

“Oh yeah, you two were keeping it rrrrrreeeaaaalllll down-low during lunch.” Widow said with a bellowing laugh, “But yeah, sure, whatever, I got what I wanted from you.”

The rest of the school day went by without Crystal paying any attention to it. She felt exhausted by the time her last class of the day rolled around, her legs felt on fire from her constant fidgeting, bouncing them up and down under her desk.

She didn’t get any work done during art, instead, she just stared blankly at the same photo of Heidi’s wide grin, wishing she could go just exist in that photo with her friend, happy, not tormenting over the tattered remains of her love life. When the final school bell rang she remained seated, her sketchbook still empty, her charcoal left untouched in her container.

Mr. Rice eventually left, going over his usual reminders of how to lock up the art room successfully, his words going unabsorbed by Crystal’s brain. She just blankly nodded along and mumbled her goodbye as he left her alone entirely with her thoughts.

_What the fuck now?_

Widow had probably already left the school, she never waited for Crystal more than five minutes, knowing the girl typically stayed after to work on projects, which meant she was likely already spreading the latest gossip back to Heidi. Crystal guessed that there was less than an hour before their entire friend group knew that she was dating Gigi Goode. Something which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t a lie.

Her stomach ached at the thought of entertaining all of the questions she would likely receive from all of her friends the next day. The concept of lying that much to the people she held closest to her mildly broke her heart. She would just have to tell them that she and Gigi already called it quits, and act sad for a moment to hopefully get them to take pity on her and not press into it anymore. It still required her to lie, but it seemed to be the least complicated solution.

Crystal began to pack up all of her stuff, finally content with her decision when she received a text message. Her heart sank as she read it was from Jaida.

Her mind swam, not even bothering to process what the text said, her thoughts simply focusing on Jaida.

What would Jaida think of all that? What must this entire thing look like from her perspective? She’d probably realize that the entire thing with Gigi only happened because of Crystal avoiding her feelings for Jaida and she’d finally notice how creepy and pathetic and unworthy Crystal was.

She’d have even more reason to just hate Crystal than she already likely did. If the letter didn’t ruin their friendship, this realization surely would.

Before Crystal knew what she was doing, she was grabbing all of her belongings and sprinting towards the football field. She weaved in between the marching band musicians warming up in the parking lot, determinedly making her way towards the group of girls drinking water in obscenely short shorts next to the bleachers until she found her, standing amongst all the other cheerleaders, looking like a glistening goddess as she sweat in the hot afternoon sun. Crystal took one final deep breath before finally walking all the way up to the blonde.

There was no turning back now.

“Ooo Gigi, look, your girlfriend’s here.” Nicky teased, tapping her friend on her shoulder

Gigi gave her a quizzical look as she turned around to look at the redhead aggressively marching towards her. Before Gigi could open her mouth she was silenced by Crystal who forced herself to say something before she could overthink it and back out.

“Let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is kind of eh and also lowkey filler, in my brain, it is like necessary turmoil for Crystal to go through before I continue on with the story and I wanted to get something out. I hope to have the next chapter out tomorrow or Monday and I promise that will actually like progress the plot lmao
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone!


	6. Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rules put in place to contain the unbridled gay energy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.transgenderdistrictsf.com  
> Donate and support the Transgender District, the first legal transgender district in the world that was created by three wonderful black trans women. They help provide affordable housing to young trans youth in their district, provide a safe environment for LGBTQ+ youths and so much more, so please check them out! 
> 
> Hi, I know it's been over a month, I'm so sorry, I got a summer job and have been working nonstop, life is crazy dudes, but I finally have my rhythm and am hoping to be posting often and frequently because I swear I did not just abandon this story. Enjoy! Sorry this is so overdue!

Crystal was sweating, like embarrassingly drenched amounts of sweating, like the amount of sweating that causes your hand to be damp as you pull back your hair into a ponytail type of sweating. She and little miss perfect Gigi Goode had been sitting in silence for twenty minutes in the deserted student parking lot in the latter’s parked car with the A/C off and the windows rolled up because apparently Gigi Goode can’t function unless she’s living in a literal sauna.

Crystal pondered if she counted as a child abandoned in a hot car in that moment.

“So how do you want to do this?” Gigi asked, pulling Crystal out of her exhausting panic.

Her mouth hung open and an unappealing groan escaped her lips as her mind tried to manufacture a singular thought to present to the girl before her. It was very apparent that Crystal had not thought further than agreeing to this arrangement, and had given little attention to anything that would come after, although, in her defense, this was not the type of thing they covered in _The Care and Keeping of You_ (unless there was a page she missed in-between the tampon insertion pictorial that haunted her in her dreams and the bra fitting advice column). Gigi seemed significantly more relaxed despite having not suggested anything herself about how to continue from there.

“I think,” Crystal said cautiously, sucking in her cheeks as she carefully sifted through her words, “I think we should lay down some rules.”

“Why?”

“Because… because, I don’t know, I just think some boundaries need to be set in place.”

“Ooo because you’re afraid you’ll fall back in love with me if we don’t keep our distance?” Gigi teased, leaning over the center console to invade Crystal’s space. The redhead in turn backed herself up against the car door, her cheeks flaming red as she stammered a denial.

_Maybe this isn’t such a good idea._

_“_ Calm down, I’m just kidding,” Gigi giggled, plopping back down in her seat, “You were already in love with me once, you’re like immune to that now.”

“That is most certainly not how that works.” Crystal laughed, releasing a bit of the tension she held in her shoulders. Gigi seemed a lot easier to talk to than she remembered from middle school, more at ease with the world and with others.

“Okay then, I’ll go first. No more calling me Georgina. It’s too, I don’t know, like formal coming from you?”

“Uh sure, alright, Gigi then?” Crystal waited for the nod of approval, “Okay, easy. My first rule is no one can ever know about this being fake. No one, not Nicky, not your parents, not my family or my friends. Not a soul. I will never hear the end of it if anyone found out, and it’d be so humiliating for the both of us.”

“Well, duh, and eventually we fake get married and fake adopt children, we won’t tell them either because at that point we will have been in too deep.”

“Stop it,” Crystal chuckled, slapping Gigi on the arm, “I’m serious about this, if it’s gonna work no one can know.”

Crystal knew the only real reason why she was pushing this rule so much was to ensure that Jaida would never know about the lengths she went to just not entirely ruin their friendship. She already felt like her situation was pitiful enough, but dragging the newly out girl into her delusions was just despicable. Jaida would hate her if she ever found out.

“Yeah, yeah, of course, I’ll take it to my grave.” Gigi laughed, her joyful reaction allowing Crystal to escape her personal pity party.

“Rule number three no dumb pet names.” Gigi continued

“What constitutes as dumb?”

“Nothing that ends in ‘pie’ or ‘ie’ really. If you would call a child the same thing, it’s off limits.”

“Fair.”

“Aaaaaand you have to come to parties with me.”

“Hard pass.”

“You have to!”

“Absolutely not.”

“C’mon, they’re fun,” Gigi paused “Okay, maybe not really fun per say, but they are not awful, especially if you’re with someone, and you’d be with me.” She grinned, raising her eyebrows expectantly,“C’mon Crystal, if we want to make this believable we have to keep up appearances at all times, play the supporting girlfriends and all that.”

“Fine, I will go to _some_ parties with you, but that means you have to come to my art exhibits.”

“I already do, but deal.”

“You do?” Crystal asked, her voice raising an octave from shock. Not a living should other than her close friend group and her parents were typically seen at the deserted exhibits. She’d mainly offered the rule as a joke.

“Yeah, I’m editor for the arts section of the school newspaper.”

“I didn’t know we had a school newspaper.”

“Crystal, I’ve interviewed you for the newspaper before, about your collection on your grandmother’s belongings last year?”

“I have no memory of that, I was probably high.”

“You were definitely high. Which reminds me of my next rule which is you have to watch yourself with the weed.”

“Can you elaborate?”

“My parents will have a conniption if they think I’m hanging out with stoners.”

“You do hang out with stoners.”

“I know, but they don’t need to know that, so just like tone down on it, they’re gonna want to meet you and they will never let me leave the house again if they think I’m running around with potheads. Also, second clause of that rule is you have to set me up with your dealer.”

“Deal.” Crystal chuckled, “Next rule no kissing.”

“What?” Gigi Snapped her head over to look at Crystal, raising her eyebrows in disbelief. Crystal squirmed under her inquisitive gaze.

“No kissing,” she mumbled, struggling to piece together the courage to delve further on her demands.

“Are you crazy, how are we going to convince anyone that we’re dating if we don’t kiss? Besides, you kissed me first, remember?”

“No I didn’t, remember eighth grade? Troye’s party? The thing my entire letter to you was about?” Crystal’s voice cracked as her voice went up. “You kissed me first… It was my first kiss… I don’t want all of my firsts to be fake.” She trailed off into a mumble.

Gigi watched her with a silent unreadable expression, lips pressed firmly together in thought. Crystal didn’t know what to think of the hush that had fallen between them. She figured that it wasn’t out of bounds to discuss that, they were gonna have to get close and personal if this was going to work for even a week, but she still feared she had overshared, put a part of herself out there that Gigi didn’t like or worse, pitied. She realized that despite her being the elder gay in the car, Gigi still had years worth of more experience than her at dating and relationships, albeit with men she wasn’t attracted to. She felt bare

Crystal fiddled with her hands, wringing them together as she sat under Gigi’s inspection when Gigi finally spoke up.

“Yeah, of course that’s fine, no kissing.” Gigi said softly, smiling at Crystal kindly.

“But if we’re gonna do that we can’t supplement it with hugs, that just looks cringy, and like we don’t actually really like each other, and I’m not gonna feed into that stereotype of two of the only gays in school dating solely for the fact that they both are gay.” Gigi continued, frowning and pinching the bridge of her nose like the very thought of coming across that way gave her a headache. “Let’s just be the calm non-PDA couple.”

“Hand-holding?” Crystal asked sheepishly.

Gigi cracked a smile and nodded, “I’m fine with hand-holding.”

“Okay, that sounds good, anymore rules?” Gigi shook her head. “Okay then, obviously in the future if things change or something’s not working we can add or adjust the list, but I think for now we are all set.”

“Wait, you’re forgetting all the good stuff!” Gigi groaned, tugging on Crystal’s sleeve, pouting as she complained. “We need to come up with how we met, how we clicked, what made you realize you liked me, all of that. People are gonna ask us, we need to have the story straight.”

“Well why not just tell them we started dating when you came out to me on Thursday?”

Gigi scrunched up her nose. “None of my friends are gonna believe you seduced me in the art wing of the high school on a Thursday. Where’s the romance? The-the _je ne sais quoi_ of it all, you know? I have a brand to uphold.” Crystal was only 64% sure she was joking in that moment.

“Well why does it have to be me romancing you? You were the one that approached me that day.”

“Again, no one’s gonna believe that I made the first move, everyone jokes about how I’m like a robot or whatever and never express interest in others.”

“Yeah well, everyone thought you were straight up until Friday so maybe it’s time people change their perception of you.”

Crystal paused for a moment, fearing the sudden halt to their conversation as Gigi leaned back in the driver’s seat away from Crystal. She hadn’t noticed how close the two of them had gotten in the car as they bantered back and forth until she had pulled away. She almost choked on air in relief when Gigi’s stone cold face finally split into a grin.

“Okay, yeah, why not, I seduced you, but does it really have to be in Mr. Rice’s room after cheer practice that it happened?”

Crystal nodded, eliciting a groan from Gigi. “Im sorry! I just sort of already told Widow that that was how it happened.” She bit her lip.

“Wait you already told someone? Someone knew that _we_ were in a relationship before I did?” Gigi’s voice raised five octaves.

“I-uh, yeah, she kind of accosted me in Spanish class, I didn’t know what to do, sorry. Anyways, it’s best this way, I hate lying, sticking to the truth is what’s best and easiest.”

Gigi scoffed, “We’re really gonna care about the truth? Now? When we’re lying to everyone in our lives—your rule, not mine, my I remind you—this is really the time to care about being deceitful?”

“It’ll make things easier to remember, and make me feel slightly less bad hopefully about lying so much. Just stretch the truth as much as we can and hope that it’ll save us from our doom.”

They eventually agreed on a rough origin of their relationship, how Gigi had been agonizing over her sexuality for months (a truth), how this led her to Crystal who was out and proud (a detail Gigi said was true), how they would just leave the events of what specifically happened in the art room on Thursday as vague as possible and hope that no one pried further.

“Have a favorite thing about me prepared.” Gigi suggested once they had finished their pseudo-alibis.

“What?”

“You know, a thing about me that draws you in? Trust me, people asked me that all the time whenever I dated men. If you want to play a convincing significant other you have to seem like you pay attention to them and the things they do. For Matt I just always said how his breath was never bad. It can be kind of superficial, just don’t be caught without an answer.” Gigi explained.

Crystal nodded along, making a mental note to try and think of an obscure thing about Gigi that she could compliment in the case she was ever asked.

Up until that moment she hadn’t really thought of how this possibly isn’t entirely uncharted territory for Gigi, masking as a straight girl for most of their adolescence, dating boys, humoring their advances and efforts just to get by in high school. Crystal couldn’t imagine how hard that most have been, how much she had to think through her relationships to keep up the front of the All-American girl she was known to be.

“Shit,” Gigi grumbled, checking the time on her phone, “I’m supposed to tutor my neighbors in 30, are we all set here? I can give you a ride, I just need to get going.”

“Oh yeah, we’re fine I think.” Crystal said, jumping out of her thoughts.

The car ride was rather quiet, the main noise simply being Crystal directing Gigi around the suburban roads to her house.

“Alright,” she sighed, “That’s me, up there on the left.”

“Okay.” Gigi said, pulling into the driveway. She parked the car, and turned, facing Crystal with a thoughtful look on her face, lips opened just slightly like she was about to say something.

Crystal prepared herself for some sort of disappointment, for Gigi to suddenly withdraw her consent to this operation, leaving Crystal out to dry with no line of defense to the shitshow she had created for herself.

She flinched as she heard Gigi finally speak.

“Do you want me to pick you up for school from now on? You’re on the way for me.” She asked.

“Huh?” Crystal said dumbly, her mind failing to comprehend the simple question. “Oh, uh, yeah. Sure. That’d be great, thank you.”

“Perfect. It’s a deal.”

“Yeah deal.” Crystal said, sticking her hand out for Gigi to shake, only to feel the other girl reach over the center console, bringing their faces just inches apart. Crystal held her breath as she watched Gigi, eyes wide open as the girl came even closer, finally planting a kiss on her cheek.

“Sorry,” the blonde mumbled, pulling away, discreetly pointing in the direction of Crystal’s front door where her mother stood, watching them. “I panicked, and thought I should do something.”

Crystal waved slowly to her mother before turning back to Gigi. Her face felt red-hot as she tried to collect her thoughts after the sudden invasion of her personal space. The only thing her mind could manage was how nice Gigi’s shampoo smelled and how she should ask what brand she uses.

“Sorry, was that too much? Should I add it to the list?”

Crystal’s mouth felt impossibly dry. 

“No, that was fine. We can keep that one”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any feedback is appreaciated! Thank you for reading, hope you are doing well or as well as you can be!


	7. Jealousy and Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I love oblivious lesbians with a side of jealousy in the morning. So that's what this is (except I'm posting this at night)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, some of you have likely seen that Chi Chi Devayne has been in and out of the hospital so if you have anything to spare please donate to her to help pay for her treatment. The American medical system is a nightmare and one visit to the ER can really damage people financially so please keep her in your thoughts. Here's a link that gives you her info to donate to https://www.reddit.com/r/rupaulsdragrace/comments/ia2oul/chi_chi_devayne_is_still_very_sick_with_pneumonia/ (I would just put her account names here but someone told me that might be against AO3 rules or something, so just to be safe there's the link lol)
> 
> Anyways, me? Updating a fic in less than two weeks? It's more likely than you think! Haha hope you enjoy enjoy! Also I super did not look over this chapter before posting it so if you see any mistakes, no you didn't <3

“Crystal honey, someone’s in the driveway for you!” The redhead awoke to her mother’s faint calls from downstairs. She laid in her bed contently, allowing the words to sit with her as she processed them. 

_Oh wait._

_Fuck._

She rushed to get out of her bed so fast that her covers tangled around her legs, tripping her as she tried to escape.

“Shit, shit, shit.” She said as she ran across her room to grab literally anything to put on. She quickly found her jeans from the day before, still covered in paint and unwashed. She fought her legs into them, groaning as her foot ripped through one of the holes she had strategically cut into the jeans, making the cute frayed section into a gash that exposed significantly more of her upper thigh. She had no time to find a new, cleaner pair, assuming she was already late to school or close to it if Widow was waiting in her driveway.

She ran into her bathroom to brush her teeth and take a quick surveillance of how rough she looked that morning, seeing her hair in a wild mane that stuck out in every direction due to her constant tossing and turning during the night. She wrestled the nest of tangles into two pigtails before spitting into the sink and running back into her room to collect her book bag and pick up a worn-out bra from the floor.

She flew down the stairs, yelling a quick goodbye to her mom, wherever she was in the house before flinging open the front door, only stopping when she saw her mother standing next to a car in the driveway, laughing as she leaned into the window of a car that was most definitely not Widow’s.

“Crystal, there you are! You should have told me that your _friend_ was gonna pick you up so early, I would’ve woken you up earlier so she didn’t have to wait so long.” Her mother turned to her, stepping back from the car, allowing Crystal to finally see Gigi in the driver’s seat, smiling amusedly at her.

Right. She forgot that she agreed to ride with Gigi, and of course Little Miss Perfect would arrive so early.

Crystal adjusted the straps to her backpack, ignoring her mother’s curious grin as she mumbled a quick goodbye. She’d managed to avoid all her mother’s questions the night before after she had witnessed Gigi dropping Crystal off, not wanting to lie to her mother just yet (not that she could speak even if she wanted to as her mind still felt like putty after the surprise of Gigi kissing her cheek so suddenly).

Crystal quickly opened the passenger side door, throwing her backpack into her seat before sitting down.

“Lovely to catching up with you, Mrs. Methyd!” Gigi waved, smiling at Crystal’s mother who energetically gestured back, raising her eyebrows suggesting at Crystal for a moment before finally turning back around towards the house.

“You ready?” Gigi finally asked, turning to her as she watched Crystal’s mother disappear through the front door.

“Why did you come so early? Don’t you have cheer before school?” Crystal asked, finally peering at her phone to see that it was almost an entire hour before school would begin. She should still be asleep for another half an hour.

“That’s only on Mondays and Wednesdays.” Gigi shrugged before reaching her arm out to hold onto the passenger seat headrest, her arm lightly brushing against Crystal’s hair as she leaned over the center console. For what felt like the millionth time in the span of a day Crystal’s mind halted to a stop as she processed Gigi invading her space, Crystal still surprised by how much she didn’t mind their sudden change in proximity to one another. 

Gigi turned her head towards her and for a second Crystal felt herself inching closer to the blonde before she saw Gigi’s hand on the gear stick, shifting the car into reverse.

_Oh._

Crystal couldn’t help but lightly giggle at her own naivety and how she was so touch starved that she was fully ready to allow Gigi to do whatever to her in her driveway with her mother only twenty feet away in the house.

“What’s so funny?” Gigi said, looking over at Crystal amusedly before shifting the car into drive, forcing herself to look back at the road.

“Oh, nothing,” Crystal sang, slightly embarrassed by how messy her day had already become in the first ten minutes, “What’d you talk about with my mom?”

“Eh not much, she asked how my mom was doing, the typical niceties.” Gigi shrugged, driving at a speed that felt glacial to Crystal after months of catching rides with Widow “Lightning McQueen” Vondu. “Your mom seems really sweet… Have you not told her about us yet?”

“Yeah, no, sorry, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it yesterday, I hate lying to her. I just kind of avoided talking to her all day yesterday.” Crystal cringed at her voice’s sudden change in pitch, skyrocketing up several octaves as she refused to look over at Gigi, “I’ll try to tell her today, I promise! She seems to already be kind of piecing together what we’re putting out.”

Gigi laughed, “Oh honey, you’re completely fine, I just didn’t really know what to say to her. She said something like ‘You and Crystal seem really close’ and I just didn’t know if she knew and was teasing me or what. You two seem close so I felt weird breaking any news like that to her.” She smiled kindly, taking a left when Widow would usually have taken a right. “You don’t have to tell her if you don’t want to I guess, it’s all fake anyway, so I suppose it doesn’t matter whether or not I ever exist as your girlfriend to her. Oh, by the way, I was planning on getting us coffee if that’s okay?”

“Oh, uh yeah that’s fine. And I’m gonna tell her, my mom is way too nosy not to tell, I just have to figure out what to say and when.” Crystal bit her lip.

They sat in a comfortable silence the rest of the way to the coffee shop, Crystal’s head up in the clouds as she watched the passing scenery rush by the car.

When they finally made it Gigi parked the car right in front of the store before pulling down her sun visor to inspect herself in the mirror, brushing out the ends of her hair and pulling out some lipgloss from her backpack and applying it.

Crystal watched silently, waiting on Gigi to enter the shop.

“Ready?” The blonde turned to her with a kind grin, shoving her cosmetics back in her bag.

Crystal nodded, hand on the door handle to leave before exclaiming, “Wait, no, one second!”

Gigi looked over to ask her what was wrong, witnessing Crystal fumble to put on her bra over her clothes before shoving it back under.

“Why, pray tell, did you take off your bra in my car?” Gigi cackled, watching Crystal struggle to clasp her underwear in the back, maneuvering the garment around so she no longer had to reach back. “Do you need help?”

“I thought we were in a rush so I never put it on and forgot about it until now!” Crystal laughed along with the blonde at the absurdity as she finally got herself situated, shifting her bra back around the right way and strategically pulling her t-shirt out from under the garment and over without exposing herself to the entirety of the parking lot. “I’m used to taking them off without looking, not putting them on!”

Gigi’s face turned bright red, causing Crystal to smirk to herself, proud at herself for making the blonde go speechlessly. She put her hand on the door handle to let herself before she finally caught on to what really took Gigi off guard.

Just feet away stood Daya and Lux, standing in the doorway of the coffee shop, watching the girls with amused smiles, clearly having seen Crystal adjusting herself in the front seat of Gigi’s car.

Crystal scrambled to open the car door, walking towards the girls who giggled at her frantic demeanor. Lux stood with a raised eyebrow and her arms crossed while Daya sipped her iced coffee, watching as Crystal tripped up to them.

“It’s not what it looks like, don’t you dare say anything to anyone.” Crystal blurted out to her friends, already imagining the shitstorm she’d get if any of their other friends were to find her in such an uncompromising position.

“Oops, too late.” Lux laughed, patting Crystal on the back. Daya just continued to delightedly sip on her drink as Crystal’s pocket buzzed incessantly.

Daegan: You have some explaining to do…

Heidi: The circus is clearly in town girl lol, what were you thinking? But all joking aside, good for you ;)

Widow: Are you out of your damn mind?

Widow: Fucking Gigi Goode in a public parking lot?

Widow: I will never let you live this down Ms. Methyd.

Crystal groaned, swiping through her phone attempting to thwart the rumors that she and Gigi banged in Gigi’s 2010 white Honda Civic, an effort entirely lost on her friends as they just continued to virtually tease her.

She trailed behind Gigi as the blonde sauntered past her and into the coffee shop, ignoring Daya and Lux’s giggles as they walked to their car to drive off to school.

Crystal only finally looked up when she heard a high pitched squeal.

“Geege!” A beautiful, short brunette screamed from behind the counter, flagging down the blonde as they entered.

The girl evidently was a chatterbox, firing away questions at Gigi, catching up with the blonde as she danced behind the counter, pouring liquids into one machine and coffee grounds into another. She brilliantly multitasked as she smiled up at Gigi, listening to her answers, laughing rather aggressively at the slightest joke the blonde made. 

Gigi in return leaned heavily over the counter, using both arms placed in front of her, holding her up as she chatted away with the brunette. Eventually a finger began twirling itself around a strand of her smooth hair as the two eagerly continued their conversation.

_Oh._

The two seemed really… close. 

Crystal stood awkwardly, several paces behind Gigi, unsure of what to do. She had never seen the girl around their school before and wondered how she could possibly know Gigi this well from just selling her coffee. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even notice you there, what can I get for you, doll?” The brunette finally peeled her eyes off of Gigi to observe Crystal standing silently in line.

“Oh, uh,” Gigi cleared her throat, “Crystal this is Rosy, my friend from cheer, she goes to Franklin High School, Rosy this is my uh girlfriend, Crystal.” 

Crystal smiled awkwardly, walking forward to stick out her hand at Rosy who took it enthusiastically, vigorously shaking it.

“Oh my god, Geege! Why didn’t you tell me you had a girlfriend! So lovely to meet you Crystal, you two look so cute!” The brunette squealed, still holding on to Crystal’s hand with a surprisingly strong grip for such a petite girl.

Crystal noticed Gigi’s lips quiver downward disappointedly for a second before smiling politely back at Crystal.

“Yeah, nice to meet you too.” Crystal murmured, still watching Gigi as she pulled her hand from Rosy’s. Gigi’s eyes averted to the floor as the two girls made acquaintances with one another, covering her mouth with her coffee cup. 

Gigi clearly had some explaining to do, although Crystal dreaded actually prodding her on this subject.

“What can I get for you sweetheart? It’s on the house, any friend of Gigi’s is a friend of mine!”

“Oh, uh, I’ll have a tea.” Crystal said in a strained voice.

“Of course, what kind?”

“Uh, just… tea?”

There was an uncomfortable pause amongst the three girls that only lasted for a second but felt like an entire day to all three.

“Give her the chamomile with some milk and honey,” Gigi spoke up, finally breaking the silence, taking another long sip from her coffee, watching Rosy through her long eyelashes.

Crystal sat atop one of the barstools, waiting for her drink with her hands folded neatly into her lap. Rosy bustled around her, taking out cups, pouring water in a pot, swirling something with a spoon in another dish. It appeared Rosy was still talking a mile a minute, but Crystal couldn’t hear a word, instead focusing on the sounds of metal utensils scraping against ceramic cups and other calming coffee shop sounds.

“Here you go!” Rosy smiled sweetly as she passed over a warm foam travel cup to Crystal over the counter along with a neatly wrapped chocolate chip cookie and a wink.

Gigi and Rosy finished up their conversation before Gigi announced it was finally time to leave for school, Crystal close to drifting to sleep on the barstool.

“You planning on going to school at all today?” Gigi asked, dropping all of her pocket change into the tip jar.

Rosy scrunched up her nose and shook her head, “Perks of not going to Washington, there are way too many kids at Franklin to accurately take attendance.”

Gigi laughed rather heartily for such a statement that Crystal didn’t even register as a joke which only made the girl further restless to leave the coffee shop.

Without thinking her hand reached for Gigi’s tugging lightly to pull her away from the counter.

“C’mon _babe_ , we’re gonna be late for school if you keep gossiping at this rate.” She said, her voice edging on annoyance as she coaxed Gigi out of the shop and back to the car, giving a small wave back to Rosy as she happily sent them off.

Gigi seemed on cloud nine as she walked back to her car, humming along to some tune Crystal couldn’t recognize as she stood idly by the door of the car, waiting for Gigi to unlock it. She forced herself to release the odd amount of tension her body was holding, unclenching her fists and rolling her shoulders to relax her upper back.

She knew she wanted to say something about what went on in there, how Gigi melted into a puddle in Rosy’s presence, twirling her hair and batting her eyes at the brunette like she was the romantic lead in some Nicolas Spark’s book. Crystal felt more like the tragic comic relief character that ceases to exist in the second part of the story.

They were halfway to school before Crystal finally spoke up.

“Soooo when were you going to tell me?” Crystal drummed her finger absent-mindedly on the dashboard, flinching at how bitter her voice sounded without her even intending to come off that way.

“Hmm?” Gigi hummed, glancing over at Crystal with a blissfully dumb grin that made Crystal’s heart drop to the pit of her stomach.

“That you’re using me to make Rosy jealous or whatever.” Crystal said, picking at a hangnail shyly, staring straight ahead in her seat, not even glancing over when Gigi’s foot unexpectedly hit the brake, causing her body to lurch forward, her seatbelt strangling her as it kept her from flying forward.

Gigi quickly recovered, her car quickly regaining the momentum it had suddenly lost. 

“I don’t… That’s not… I uh,” she sighed, picking her words carefully, “I already told you my reasons for doing this.”

Crystal scoffed. She didn’t know why she was in such a sour mood, maybe because Gigi just ignored her for half an hour, leaving her out to dry in that coffee shop.

“Rosy’s just… That was not the main reason I suggested this all of this, I explained why I need this to work.” Gigi said, running a hand through her long tresses, “If you’re worried about me abandoning our plans or whatever, I swear I’ll keep my end of the bargain up for as long as you need. I promise I won’t just abandon you Crystal. I’m in this for the long haul.”

Crystal cringed as her suspicions were confirmed.

_You’re just upset she didn’t tell you._ She reminded herself, keeping her eyes on the road unlike Gigi who kept turning her head to look at her.

“Crys c’mon.” The blonde whined “You realize you’re doing the same thing right? You’re using me for Jaida. Why does it matter if I’m using this to kind of stir things up with Rosy, see if she likes me too?

Crystal huffed, knowing that Gigi was absolutely right and she was acting hypocritically.

“I just wish you had told me, that’s all. It caught me off guard. If this is going to work we need to be one hundred percent honest.”

Gigi sucked in her cheeks, inhaling sharply. Crystal prepared herself for yelling, arguing, possibly the dissolution of their entire relationship because clearly this wasn’t working if she was losing her mind over a cute barista Gigi was crushing on.

“You’re right, I should have told you. I’m sorry Crys, that was unfair to you.”

The two sat in silence for a few minutes. The tension was nearly unbearable, Crystal sat biting her lip, still worried that she had already managed to ruin this whole ordeal as well as her budding friendship with Gigi which was why her heart skipped a beat when she heard a sweet little giggle from Gigi.

“Is it really that obvious? That I like her?” The blonde said bashfully, peaking over at Crystal. Her nose was scrunched up and a flare of blush appeared to creep up her neck, embarrassed at being so transparent with her emotions.

Crystal exaggeratedly rolled her eyes, lighting pushing Gigi’s shoulder to tease her.

“Please, I have never so intensely third-wheeled for a couple before. You were so excited to see her it was like she was your husband returning from war or something.”

Crystal thought for a moment about how cute Gigi looked, carelessly enjoying herself as she laughed at her own obviousness, talking about her crush in such a sweet way. Crystal listened as Gigi gushed over Rosy for the rest of the ride, explaining how they met, how Gigi first fully processed her sexuality when she developed her crush on Rosy. It was adorable, and yet she couldn’t help a creeping wave of nausea pass over her as Gigi continued to rant.

“Enough about Rosy, I’m sure you’re already bored.” Gigi chuckled “How are things going with Jaida?”

Crystal froze, realizing probably why she was feeling so unnerved. She’d continued ignoring Jaida, not answering texts or calls from the girl for the past five days, still processing how she was going to explain any of this to Jaida. She felt terrible, leaving her best friend high and dry for almost a week now, and felt even worse how acclimated she already had become to not talking to her anymore. This was the new normal. They could never go back to before those stupid letters were sent out, Crystal would just have to accept that.

“Um, I don’t know, I haven’t really talked to her since all of this. It’s just a lot for both of us to process right now I guess.” Crystal answered awkwardly, wishing they could return to Gigi rhapsodizing about the brunette barista so at least the attention was off of her.

“Hey,” Gigi said softly, reaching for Crystal’s hand, “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. We’ll add it to the list, no unnecessary talking about crushes except for what is deemed absolutely vital information to our operations.”

Crystal chewed her bottom lip, nodding her head slowly before giving Gigi a small smile. Gigi grinned back, squeezing Crystal’s hand reassuringly before dropping it, returning both hands to the wheel, making Crystal quickly miss the physical contact (although it was probably best Gigi kept her energy on driving at the moment as it appeared the perfect princess’s one weakness were the rules of the road).

They finally made it to school five minutes before the bell.

“You ready?” Gigi gave her a challenging smirk before taking her hand again, before starting towards the school.

It was odd how comfortable Crystal felt with the casual PDA from Gigi, how just right it felt to be holding onto her, being lead around the halls by the blonde as she greeted virtually everyone in their grade. What was significantly less comfortable were the stares the two received although Gigi didn’t seem to mind. She was probably used to life under a social microscope.

The two made their way to the group of Gigi’s friends all gathered around Nicky’s locker, the group of cheerleaders all laughing together, looking like a real-life replica of the mean girl group in every early 2000s high school film. A part of Crystal wanted to turn back around and abandon ship, her deep-seated fear of the popular girls that originated from her first time watching _Heathers_ rearing its head in. She’d only ever talked to Gigi and Nicky, what if the rest of them were actually terrible and she had every right to avoid them in the halls for the past few years?

Her fears were quickly thwarted by the beautiful smiles the group shone in her direction, greeting Gigi and Crystal with compliments and updates on rather frivolous drama.

It felt nice, Gigi’s hand in hers, their sides pressed together as they laughed with Gigi’s clique, everyone quickly adding Crystal into the mix, including her in discussions and jokes.

For a moment— if she closed her eyes— she could pretend that this was just her reality. That she was dating Gigi and was a part of her group now. It was easy for her. It felt normal, it felt right.

But that wasn’t reality. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This sure is turning into a slowburn fic... I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> Please comment, leave kudos, bookmark, whatever you want!
> 
> I'm already hallway done with writing the next chapter so that should be out in the next week, no actual promises though because I'm dumb and sometimes shut off my brain for three weeks.


	8. Party in the USGay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did someone ask for tension with a side of underage drinking? I hope not, cause that'd kind of be a weird and creepy request but anyways both of those things are in this chapter.
> 
> TW for underage drinking and partying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today I want to shine a light on FortheGworls a project sponsored by the Arts Business Collaborative to raise money to house black trans folx as well as help fund their reaffirming surgeries and recoveries in the US. They do some really lovely and necessary work so I'll put their linktree below so you can follow them on social media so you can get updates on ways to help. :)  
> https://linktr.ee/FORTHEGWORLSPARTY
> 
> Hi guys, look at this, an update in less than a week! Wild, I know. Is this a new era for I_Have_No_Idea? Unlikely!
> 
> Hope you enjoy! <3 I'm actually relatively proud of this one!

Crystal wasn’t exactly sure how she’d ended up spending her Friday night surrounded by her high school classmates, cheering along with the soccer team as she attempted and failed to make any cups in a game of beer pong (the cups on Crystal’s side filled halfway with Twisted Tea because the smell of beer made her sick to her stomach). Originally she convinced Gigi that she was simply too busy to attend the event, afraid that they were moving too fast, or really their fake relationship was moving too fast and above all dreading the thought of sitting in the corner clutching a red solo cup as Gigi socialized with everyone on the face of the planet. She’d told the blonde that she’d planned a girl’s weekend with her mother, a fact that she promised herself wasn’t completely a lie because she planned the weekend in her head, she just hadn’t told her mom about any of the plans yet.

That story was thrown entirely out the window on Friday morning when Gigi arrived to pick Crystal up before school and Crystal’s mom announced to the two of them that she’d be out late that night at a ballroom dance tournament with her friends. Crystal cringed, realizing she’d been caught, her fate sealed with a cheeky:

“So I guess I’ll be picking you up at 8?”

Crystal was almost relieved when 8 arrived and Gigi wasn’t there and hadn’t texted a heads up regarding her tardiness. In the past week and a half Crystal had realized that Gigi was the poster child for “Early is on time, and on time is late.” So Gigi completely missing their scheduled time immediately made Crystal wonder if the girl had forgotten about the party. But that reassurance was dulled by her next line of thought: that Gigi also forgot about Crystal or at least didn’t care enough to text her.

Crystal’s emotions flipped the minute she heard Gigi’s familiar honk come from her driveway at 830, relieved that Gigi didn’t forget about her, but now horrified that now she had to hold up to her end of the bargain.

Her phone lit up with a notification.

Gigi: Sorry I’m late, tutoring got out of hand. Blew their minds teaching them time tables today, it was wild, you should’ve been there.

Crystal: Probably best I wasn’t there, not a single person has had enough patience to sit down and help me understand math.

Crystal: Also, sorry give me five minutes I’m not ready yet because I still don’t want to go.

Gigi: :(

Gigi: Jk too bad, you’re coming :). 

Gigi: Also if that is a challenge Miss Methyd I am 110% ready to take you on. I have flashcards in my car right now.

Crystal: Am I hearing a potential drinking game? ;)

Gigi: I’d rather not have to drive you to the ER to get your stomach pumped tonight. 

Crystal: Ouch. You have no faith in me ;(

Gigi: I believe in your potential, not so much your current ability.

Crystal: I have never had someone so kindly and eloquently tell me that I’m an idiot before.

Gigi: Let’s just say you’re lucky you’re so pretty. :)

Gigi: Again, kidding.

Gigi: Now stop stalling and get ready.

Crystal blushed at the joking back-handed compliment, cursing herself for even humoring the concept of that comment being romantic in any way.

_She’s just being friendly, because that’s all you two really are. Friends helping each other._

Crystal: Make me ;)

She jumped at the sound of Gigi honking her horn again.

Crystal: Fine.

Crystal drug her feet as she walked around her room, changing into jeans and a ripped band tee, something she assumed would be proper high school party attire. She ran a quick brush through her hair, fighting against the frizzy curls to look somewhat presentable (she’d of course prefer it look ethereal, but she’d honestly would have taken anything at that point). She spritzed some of her favorite perfume onto her wrists and neck before facing the mirror. She accessed herself, fidgeting with her belt and necklaces.

She wondered if perhaps she should dress up more, wear a skirt, or at least something that hadn’t been lying on her floor for the past two weeks. It was going to be their first outing as a couple after all, shouldn’t that be a momentous occasion or something? 

Crystal guessed it didn’t truly matter because they weren’t actually dating, the reminder leaving a bitter taste in her mouth that only went away when she saw Gigi’s smile as she walked towards the blonde’s car.

“Hey there!”

“Hey yourself.” She said, sitting down in the car, “What’s the game plan?”

“I live just like two blocks down from his house so I was thinking I could drive us to my place, I can get ready, we can do a couple of shots, loosen ourselves up and stuff and then walk over if that’s okay? I originally planned on driving over and not drinking but I just got done explaining that 11x11 does not equal 111 for to two nine-year-olds for three hours, I think I am deserving of getting shitfaced.”

“Wait what does 11x11 equal if not 111?” Crystal teased, putting on her seatbelt.

“Don’t test me right now Crystal Elizabeth Methyd, I can and will break your kneecaps.”

Crystal laughed, concealing her phone from Gigi as she typed in the numbers, not willing to admit that she was truly that bad at math.

They drove through the suburbs in relative silence, Gigi’s car playing some music just quietly enough that all Crystal could make out was the steady bass line, Gigi nodding her head along to the beats and mouthing lyrics Crystal couldn’t hear.

Crystal was captivated by the blonde’s mouth, trying with all her might to read a single word off of her lips, all of the movements just seeming like gibberish to her.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Gigi asked amusedly, looking over at the redhead whose face turned almost scarlet from the embarrassment of being caught staring.

“I was trying to see what song you were singing, I can’t really hear the music.” She mumbled, looking away, not seeing the way Gigi’s smile softened at the statement before her hand reached towards the dashboard, turning up the music.

Crystal vaguely recognized the song. It was one of her mother’s old favorites from her teenage years in the 80s that she would play in the house when Crystal was young. It felt nostalgic to hear the song again, closing her eyes remembering how her mother would twirl her to it when she was a little girl.

They pulled up to Gigi’s house as the song ended, the girls getting out of the car and opening up Gigi’s front door.

“My parents are away on a business trip until Sunday, so if you want you can sleepover tonight.” She said throwing down her backpack in the front hall and sliding off her heels, “Leave your shoes there.”

Crystal took in the house, feeling odd finally being exposed to Gigi’s home life. She’d always secretly wondered what domestic life was for the girl, imagining a palace with a moat or something equally dramatic for the picture-perfect girl. It was nice to instead be welcomed by regular middle-class suburban home amenities like a plastic shopping bag filled with other plastic shopping bags on a door handle.

They walked up to Gigi’s room, Gigi promising to get ready as quickly as possible, still taking long enough that Crystal fell asleep on her bed.

“Ready?” Gigi asked, waking Crystal up from her nap.

“Hm?” The redhead asked, sitting up in the bed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She took a moment to take in the vision before her. Gigi looked beautiful, her outfit perfectly hugging her slender frame, the short skirt showing off her long legs. It left Crystal speechless.

Gigi rolled her eyes at her. 

“Did you really fall asleep at 9 PM on a Friday, you’re such a dork.” She said, sitting down on her bed next to Crystal, “C’m here.” The blonde said, grabbing Crystal’s face, squishing the sides of her cheeks as she pulled her face to hers, her other hand wielding a metal tube.

“What’re you doing?” Crystal muffled, her mouth being restricted by Gigi’s surprisingly strong grip.

“Shh,” she whispered despite them being alone, “Relax your lips, like this.” She said, pouting her lips in a way that short-circuited Crystal’s mind because _how could someone’s lips look so soft?_

Gigi smiled softly when Crystal finally complied, removing her hand from Crystal’s face for a second to open the tube before placing a hand under Crystal’s chin, steadying her.

“Don’t you dare move unless you want to look like The Grinning Man.”

“The Who?” Crystal pulled back to look at her questioningly.

“What did I just say about moving? _Jesus_ , you’re annoying.” She said rolling her eyes, a hint of a grin on her lips. 

“Anyways, I said The Grinning Man, you know, from that Victor Hugo book? _The Man Who Laughs_? _L’homme qui rit?_ ” She paused, receiving a blank stare back from Crystal, “Guy gets his face all sliced up that heals into a permanent grin? Like a disfigured clown?”

“You mean the Joker?”

“Isn’t that a Superman character?”

“Batman.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“Don’t take this personally—or maybe do— but your references kind of suck.”

Gigi fake gasped, her hand flying up to clutch a nonexistent string of pearls at her clavicle. “How dare you!” She mockingly cried, causing Crystal to giggle.

“No offense! They’re just kind of all… like dated I guess. I maybe understand one out of every five. You’d fit right in with the women from my grandmother’s gardening club”

“Maybe you’re just not cultured Miss Methyd.”

“Nope, I’m just dating an eighty-year-old.” Almost immediately Crystal froze up, realizing her mistake. Her eyes went wide as she mentally cursed herself for the slip-up, wishing she could just melt into Gigi’s leather-upholstered car seat.

Gigi, however, didn’t seem to notice, laughing melodically.

“I guess that’s your new job, _babe,_ ” She teased, “You’ll teach me how to be a real Gen Z kid.”

Crystal smiled, her brain easing on the mental flagellation at the sound of Gigi’s laugh.

“Don’t you test me because I absolutely will write you up a syllabus of all the most important shows and films of the past 20 years and I will test you on it.”

“So long as you organize the viewing parties and provide popcorn, I’ll be there. Now stop stalling, let me put this lipstick on you.” She said, once again grabbing Crystal’s face to pull towards her.

She dabbed the makeup against Crystal’s lips before taking her ring finger and lightly tapping over where she had just applied the color, basically taking away all the pigment.

“Why is this necessary again?” Crystal hummed, causing Gigi to hush her again.

“Stop distracting me, I’m working.” She said before leaning back to reach into her purse and pull out lipgloss, applying it to the center of Crystal’s lips. 

“Press your lips together. Perfect.” She purred, “I’m doing this to make it look like we’re late because we were busy with other things.” She said wiggling her eyebrows suggestively

“Huh?”

“ _Things_ Crystal.”

The redhead blinked.

“It looks like my lipstick is _stylishly_ smeared on your lips, get it? Now untuck one side of your shirt.”

Crystal did so without another question.

Gigi flipped her head back and forth a few times before running her hands through her hair, fluffing it up. “Bedhead.” She explained when she noticed Crystal staring, before pulling out a compact, opening it up to look at herself in the small mirror, “Perfect.”

“How come you’re so good at this? You fake date a lot of people?” Crystal coughed awkwardly, trying to make her question come off as her teasing the blonde, but instead sounding (and feeling) insecure about the possibility of just being another _anything_ to Gigi.

“I pretended to be straight for almost all my life Crystal, along the road I picked up a few tricks to sell my heterosexuality to people.” She said, clamping the compact shut in her hand, “You’re the first person I’ve ever actually pretended to be in a relationship with though, in the past I just told my parents I was seeing a dude named like Jake or something, I was pretty bad at that though, I couldn’t remember the fake name so sometimes I’d say the wrong name and have to pretend the original made-up boyfriend and I were in a fight or something and I was going out with a new made-up guy. It was exhausting. My parents thought my love life was a mess when in reality the only relationship I had at the time was with the ‘Am I Gay’ test, and we all know how that ended.”

Crystal stared at her, almost speechless at how clever the girl was. She at first felt a strange sense of pride for the girl’s innovative nature, before her mind lingered over how lonely those months in the closet must have been for her. Without thinking she reached for Gigi’s hand, stroking the back of it with her thumb slowly.

“You amaze me.” She whispered.

Gigi turned to her, an unreadable expression on her face as she gazed over at Crystal. Her eyes darting from Crystal’s eyes to her lips and back up, a ghost of a smile forming on her lips.

The two stared at each other, so close that their knees were touching as they sat face to face on Gigi’s bed, their fingers intertwined between them with Crystal continuing to rub circles absent-mindedly against Gigi’s skin.

“Do you want-“ Gigi began before being interrupted by a group of rowdy boys yelling down the street presumably in the direction of the party. Gigi cleared her throat, withdrawing her hand from Crystal’s hold. “Ahem, sorry, um do you want to do a couple of shots before we leave?”

“Uh yeah, sure,” Crystal mumbled, looking away trying to hide her visible disappointment.

“I don’t have any shot glasses, so if you don’t mind my backwash you’re welcome to as much as you want.” Gigi said as she pulled a bottle of mango-flavored vodka out from underneath her bed, taking a swift swig of it before covering her mouth and gagging for a second, “I swear that taste gets worse every time.”

Crystal took the bottle, taking a quick sip of the liquid before she could overthink it and chicken out, “Ugh, that is absolutely rancid, why do you have that?”

“It’s cheap,” Gigi shrugged, taking the bottle back, taking another shot before offering it to Crystal, twisting the cap back on when the redhead refused. “Ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Crystal sighed, getting out of the car.

The party was already packed when they reached the house, groups of people loitering on the front lawn and front porch. It was like a scene taken out of a college frat movie or something, guys screaming nonsense as they sat on the roof of the garage, the ground shaking from the vibrations of the bass line of an indiscernible song playing on the speakers of the house. It was wild. Crystal already wanted to go home.

She instinctively went to reach for Gigi, wanting a familiar connection as well as any way to tether herself to her only social anchor, but quickly shot her hand back to her side as she heard people calling Gigi’s name, causing the blonde girl to immediately walk in that direction.

Crystal followed behind Gigi as they snaked through the crowds of people, pushing past kids at various stages of drunkenness, all dancing and talking way too loudly. Crystal couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the heat and close proximity of everyone in the house, the redhead suddenly painfully aware of how many strangers there were in the house.

It was a gigantic relief if not entirely confusing to spot her friends out of the corner of her eye, causing her to stop to give them a small friendly wave that none of them seemed to notice.

“Babe, you coming?” Gigi called to her, stopped several paces ahead of her.

Crystal looked back and forth between her friends and Gigi’s outstretched hand, unsure of what would land her in a more uncomfortable situation. She genuinely had no clue who Gigi was walking towards, but on the other hand, she hadn’t talked to her friends in over a week, spending almost all of her free time either with Gigi or in the art room. She felt a panic rise in her chest at the thought of her friends purposefully ignoring her.

“Coming!” She announced, taking Gigi’s hand once again, matching the blonde’s grin as she was pulled closer to her. 

They finally met up with Gigi’s group, most of whom Crystal was happy to recognize and who seemed to remember her, flashing smiles in her direction as the couple greeted the group.

Before she knew it she was missing her sixth consecutive shot as another ball sailed into one of her cups, forcing her to chug back yet another cup of the lukewarm brown liquid, the drink barely skimming over her tastebuds as she poured it back. Nicky was struggling to keep their team afloat, letting out a mix of curses in French and English as another ball landed in one of their cups.

“Pull yourself together Crystal, I refuse to lose.” She huffed before dunking the ball in the water cup, cleaning it off before throwing it, finally landing one in.

Crystal snorted, the alcohol clearly getting to her as she swayed next to the tiny cheerleader, propping her elbow on the girl’s shoulder to steady herself. She wondered where Gigi had gone, her memory unable to recall the last time she had seen her date. How much time had passed? She couldn’t tell.

She focused all her might on just refocusing her vision, desperately clinging onto the clearest visual she could find so she could attempt to center her mind, frowning as her eyes landed directly on a familiar blonde standing far too close to someone else. She was quickly snapped out of her trance however by the screaming match unfolding next to her.

“Hey, watch the elbows! You were over the line Nicky, that shot does not count!” The guys on the other team shouted at the shouter girl who looked ready to flip the pong table.

“Oh, I can show you over the line alright. I’m five foot fucking two how do you expect me to land anything? This game isn’t fair I will—“ Nicky screamed back at them, practically crawling onto the table towards the boys only being held back by the ridiculously tipsy Crystal who tried to grab onto the windmill of arms the French girl was throwing, thrashing in Crystal’s grip.

Crystal couldn’t help but chuckle at how surprisingly competitive the sweet girl got when she was drunk, she never would have guessed that there could be that much machismo in such a compact package. It was honestly astonishing.

She finally got the girl to calm down, finally releasing her from her protective bear hug so she could go look for the pong ball that had gone missing during the fight when Crystal heard her name suddenly called out.

“Cryssie?”

She turned to look at the tall girl that had called for her, confused at the sound of her old nickname being spoken. People hadn’t really called her that in years.

The girl was beautiful, with lavender-dyed hair, a lean build, and a childishly toothy grin that made her eyes crinkle as she smiled at the redhead.

“Yeah?” Crystal responded confusedly, pointing to herself and looking around to make sure that there wasn’t someone else named Cryssie standing directly behind her or something.

“Oh my god, this is wild! It was so lovely to hear from you the other week! How are you? How’s your family? Are they good? How’s your mama?” The purple-headed girl squealed, pulling her into a tight hug like they were long lost friends reunited after years apart.

“Um, uh I’m alright.” Crystal said with a tight smile, pulling back to get abetter look at the girl, begging her mind to recall the stranger’s name to no avail, “I’m so sorry, I’m really drunk right now, my mind isn’t working, who are you?”

_Real graceful Crys._

_“_ Oh my god, duh sorry, it’s been literal years, can’t really fault you for not automatically remembering me. It’s Jan! Jan Sport, from kindergarten!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to end there, this chapter was getting quite long, I didn't want to make you guys sit through like 6,000 words of my gay ranting. Anyways be good people, I hope you all are doing okay, take breaks as needed, eat some food, drink some water, and go look at Gigi in that air stewardess outfit from the one-woman show challenge. It's called ~*Self Care*~
> 
> As always comments, kudos, really any sort of feedback is greatly appreciated!


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